Water ski rope reel



April 3, 1962 c. E. NORTON ETAL WATER SKI ROPE REEL Filed Feb. 19, 1960N E O N N .u f.- u. m T m O R O O M N N y s LL W- E B N Q M ES C A mmWMQM R O AH .L C h i ||n||f will \N H nl M lTWJl .I TTQIMMIM .l NT w1m\.V \\l Lw I. ,-wmwwmlwmlwlmmlmuvmlmn m mm. S m EN NN\ u @mi Q\\ UnitedStates Wis.

Filed Feb. 19, 1960, Ser. No. 9,933 5 Claims. (Cl. 242-865) Thisinvention relates to a water ski reel for attachment to a motor boat forthe purpose of controlling the ski rope olf the transom of the boat.

It is an object of this invention to provide a reel which, when attachedto a motor boat or the like, will provide a mounting for a ski rope sothat the rope can be reeled in and also reeled out as needed and desiredby both the boat operator and the skier. In accomplishing thisparticular object, it is signiiicant to recognize that the reel isprovided so that it is automatically operable under the power of theboat moving in the water.

. Another object of this invention is to provide an automaticallyoperable water ski reel which readily permits the skier to positionhimself to either side of the foreand-aft axis of the boat as the skiercan steer to the left or right with respect to the forward direction ofthe boat, and which also permits t-he skier to move both toward and awayfrom the boat so that he could position himself at a distance behind theboat as he so desires.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a water ski reelwhich enhances the safety of water skiing and which also simplifies themaneuver of the skier catching the handles at the end of the rope, andthese particular, important and desirable functions are achieved throughthe automatic reeling in of the ski rope once the rope has been releasedby the skier. The importance of safer water skiing is of extreme concernto all persons interested in water skiing and likewise to improve themanner of permitting the skier to catch the handles results in providingmore time for actual skiing in a given period of a day.

Still another object is to provide a convenient means for retaining theski rope when the same is not in use.

And still a further object is to provide a ski reel which isautomatically operable by the power of the boat passing through thewater, but which nevertheless has provision for shielding the splashingand spraying of water into the air, and particularly toward the boat.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading thefollowing description in conjunction with the accompanying `drawingswherein:

FIG. l is a fragmentary side elevational view of a preferred embodimentof this invention, and with the ski reel shown in an inoperative orraised position by the dotted lines included in the view.

FIG. 2 is a rear end` elevational view of the ski reel shown in FIG. l.

The same reference numerals refer to the same parts between the twoviews.

The ski reel is constructed to be readily mounted on and dismounted froma transom at the rear of a motor boat or the like, and for this purposea vertically disposed mounting bracket is provided to be attached to asocket or the like, not shown, but it is understood that the bracket 10would be disposed at the upright, rear transom of the boat. The lowerend of the bracket 10 has a pivot bolt 11 extending therethrough toafford a bifurcated member 12 which extends preferably to both sides ofthe bracket 10, and which has a plurality of openings 13 through whichmounting bolts are inserted when the member 12 is pivoted about the bolt11 for engaging the proper bolt in one of the holes 13 with a hole inthe bracket 10. Thus, it will be understood that a mounting pin or boltpasses through the hole- 11 in the member 12 arent Gf 3,028,116 PatentedApr. 3, 1962 and through the bracket 10 to secure the two piecestogether in a pivoted relation, and then a mounting pin or bolt passesthrough the selected, aligned pair of the holes 13 in the member 12 andthrough a hole such as the hole 14 in the lower end of the bracket 10,so that the bracket 10 and the member 12 are secured together at adesired angle, and thus the member 212 is disclosed at the desiredelevation and is therefore suitable for various sizes of boats andvarious angles of transoms on boats so that the reel will be disposed inthe water wake a suitable amount.

The drawings also show that the rear end of the member 12 supports ashaft 16, which extends between the free and bifurcated ends of themember 12. The shaft 16 in turn supports a second bracket or bifurcatedmember 17, which in turn supports the axle 18 of the rope reel generallydesignated 19. The parts mentioned are of course so arranged that thereel 19 is rotatable on the member 17 and also the member 17 is pivotalbetween the solid line position shown in FIG. 1 and up to a dotted lineposition shown in FIG. l. It will now be mentioned that when the reel isin the lowered, solid line position,

the wake of the water would be approximately as indi-v cated by the linedesignated W, so that the reel is rotated counter-clockwise as viewed inFIG. 1, while the boat moves forwardly in the Water and that would be,of course, to the left as viewed in FIG. 1. Also, when the reel 19 isplaced in the dotted line position shown in FIG. 1, the reel is out ofthe water, as indicated. Of course the reel 19 has a plurality ofpaddles 21 and it has a central core or spool 22 on and around which aski tow rope 23 is wound. FIG. 1 further shows that the rope 23 engagesthe spool 22 at the lower half of the latter so that when the reel 19 isin the water, as mentioned, and is being rotated counter-clockwise, therope 23 will be wound up on the spool 22.

Thus, at this time it will also benoted that the rope 23 extends fromits position considerably to the rear of the boat, and it is trainedover a pulley 24 which is rotatably mounted in a U-shaped swivel 26which is secured to the bracket 10. The particular manner of mountingthe member 26 on the bracket 10 is such that the U-shaped member 26 isswivelly mounted so that the skier can readily pull the rope 23considerably to the left and to the right with respect to thefore-and-aft axis of the boat and still have the rope 23 remain taut andremain on the pulley 24 and remain operable in the manner mentionedhereinafter. Of course, the pulley 24 is rotatably mounted on the member26 by means of the axle or trunnions 27. Thus when the reel 19 is in thewater as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, then the rope 23 will of course bewound up on the reel until the knot 28 reaches the pulley 24, at whichpoint the rope will not be further wound up as the knot or stop 28cannot pass beyond the pulley 24 and thus about eight or ten feet of theremaining end of the rope 23 including the handles is left floating inthe water behind the boat so that the boatsman can easily guide thehandles to the skier in the water so that the skier can grasp thehandles and commence skiing again. Of course, when the resistance of theskier in the water is applied to the rope 23, the rope is unwound fromthe reel 19, as the latter slowly turns in a clockwise direction and theskier relatively moves further back with respect to the boat until theentire rope 23 is extended out of the reel 19. At that time the rope 23also pulls the reel 19 up to the dotted line position shown in FIG. l,so that the reel is entirely out of the Water, and therefore offers noresistance to the forward motion of the boat and the skier.

It will be further noted that a stop 29 is attached by screws or thelike 31 to the member 17 so that in the solid line position shown inFIG. 1, the upper edge 32 of the stop 29 abuts the lower edge of themember y12 to thereby position the reel 19 in the water as shown insolid lines in F1G. l, and thus retain the reel 19 in the water againstthe resistance of the forward motion of the boat. Without such a stop itis likely that the reel 19 would not 1oe retained in the water, but itrather would ride over the top of the water and it would not properlyrotate for the purposes mentioned. Also, when the rope 23 issutiiciently taut, then the reel 19 is pulled to the dotted lineposition of FIG. l, and at this time the stop 29 -abuts the lower edgeof the member 12 in the dotted line position shown with the stop edge 33abutting the lower edge of the member 12, and this thus holds the reelagainst further clockwise rotation beyond the position shown in dottedlines in FIG. 1. In this operation of pivoting the reel 19, asdescribed, it should be particularly noted that the reel is pivotedabout an axis which is substantially directly above the axis of the reelwhen the latter is in the immersed position in the water as shown insolid lines in FIG. 1. Thus, the reel can be readily retained in itsimmersed position by the stop 29, as described, and it can also beraised to the dotted line position by the tension or force appliedthrough the rope 23, as described.

Still further, it should be noted that a shield or shroud 34 is over theupper half of the reel 19 and provides a bale so that the water engagedby the lower vanes 21 of the reel 19will not be directed upwardly eithertoward the boat or rearwardly toward the skier, or in any otherundesirable direction. Thus the shield 34 prevents the undesirablesplash of the water when the reel 19 is in the water. A slot 36 isprovided in the shield 34 for the passage of the rope therethrough, andalso a louver 37 is provided in the top of the shield 34 to provide anopening for the escape of water from the shield 34. It has been foundthat without the opening 37, the water is splashed into the boat by thewheel '19. Also note that the shield 34 is mounted on the shafts 16 and18 to be secured in position, and the front edge 3S is inclinedforwardly to provide a relief from water resistance at the front areawhen the reel is in the water. Also, the back of the shield 34 has anopening 39 which also provides a water relief.

While a specic embodiment of this invention has been shown anddescribed, it will be understood that certain changes in the embodimentcan be effected and the invention, therefore, should be limited only bythe scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A ski reel for attachingl to a boat and connecting to the ski rope,comprising a support member attachable to the transom of said boat andextending rearwardly therefrom, a water wheel including an axle to whichsaid rope is attached for winding and unwinding with rotation of saidwheel, a connector pivotally attached on the rear end of said supportmember and rotatably supporting said wheel for pivotally mounting thelatter behind said boat to raise and lower said wheel between aforwardly pivoted position out of the water when said rope is taut and arearwardly pivoted position in the water when said rope is slackened, astop interengaged between said connector and said support member forlimiting rearward pivotal motion of said connector to thereby retainsaid connector against the rearward force of the water on said wheel,anda rope guide attached to said support member at a level above saidwheel for inducing upward and forward pivotal motion to said wheel whensaid rope is sufciently taut.

2. A ski reel for attaching to a boat and connecting to the ski rope,`comprising a support member xedly attachable to the transom of saidboat and extending rearwardly therefrom, a water wheel including an axleto which said rope is attached for winding land unwinding with rotationof said wheel, a connector pivotally attached on the rear end of saidsupport member and extending therebelow and rotatably supporting saidwheel on the lower end of said connector for pivotally mounting thelatter behind said boat to raise and lower said wheel between aforwardly pivoted position out of the water when said rope is taut and arearwardly pivoted position in the water when said rope is slackened, astop interengaged between said connector and said support member forlimiting rearward pivotal motion of said connector to thereby retainsaid connector against the rearward force of the water on said wheel, arope guide attached to said support member forwardly and upwardly fromsaid wheel for inducing forward pivotal motion to said wheel when saidrope is suciently taut, and a stop on said rope for limiting the amountto be wound up on said wheel.

3. A ski reel for attaching to a boat and connecting to the ski rope foroperation by the skier, comprising a support member attachable to thetransom of said boat, a water wheel including paddles `and an `axle towhich said ski rope is attached for winding up and unwinding withrotation of said water wheel, said water wheel being upwardly movablyattached to said support member for positioning upwardly out of thewater by the pull of said ski rope towing a skier and for positioningdownwardly in the surface of the water when the pull of said ski rope isslackened, whereby said water wheel is rotated by passing through thesurface of said water, stop means operatively interposed between saidsupport member and said water wheel and being 4adapted for securing thelatter downwardly in said water in response to slackening of said skirope, anda rope guide attached to said support member and disposed at alevel `above said axle for training said ski rope thereon to therebyinduce an upward pull on said water wheel under the resistance of awater skier being towed by saidski rope.

4. A water ski reel for attaching to a boat 1and connecting a ski ropethereto, a support member xedly attachable to said boat for extendingrearwardly thereof in a permanent position, la ski rope, la rope reelpivotally mounted on said support member for attaching said rope theretoand for pivotal movement between a raised forward position out of thewater vand a lowered rearward position in the water for rotation to windup and unwind said rope, a stop iuterengaged between said support memberand said reel for limiting pivotal movement of the latter in both saidrearward position and said forward position, and a rope guide mounted onsaid support member in front of said reel `and thereabove for direct-ingsaid hope to said reel at an angle for pulling upwardly on said reelwhen said rope is tautly trained over said guide.

5. A water ski reel for attaching to a boat and connecting a ski ropethere-to, a support member attachable to said boat for extendingrearwardly thereof, a ski rope including a stop thereon, a rope reelpivotally mounted on said support member for attaching said rope theretoand for pivotal movement between a raised forward position out of thewater and a lowered rearward position in the water for rotation -to windup and unwind said rope, a stop disposed in abutting relation betweensaid support member and said reel for limiting the latter in saidrearward position, a rope guide mounted on said support member in frontof said reel and thereabove for directing said rope to said reel forpulling upwardly on said reel when said rope is tautly trained over saidguide and for engaging said stop on said rope to limit winding up ofsaid rope.

Vogler et al Sept. 26, 1939 Meek Aug. 18, 1959

